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Delivering the food using drone technology is all set to become a reality in Pakistan. The announcement was made by DC Islamabad Hamza Shafqat through his Twitter handle. This is very amusing news for Pakistan. The said development will boost the restaurant industry in Islamabad like a conflagration as well as in Pakistan.
Browns are currently being used for inspection, mapping, security, surveillance, and detection because of their accessibility to difficult, remote, and hard-to-reach locations.
The first-ever drone delivery that took place occurred way back in 2015. Medicine and pharmaceutical products were delivered to a free medical clinic in Wise country Virginia USA. A drone start-up, Flirtey made the delivery. A year later the same startup partnered with Domino’s pizza and delivered their products in New Zealand. Nowadays, they are successfully carrying food deliveries through drones in collaboration with 7-Eleven. A reasonable number of customers can now order food with the help of their mobile phones and have them delivered to whatever location they want through drone technology
The island company partnered with an Israeli drone startup to deliver food packages in 2017. In addition to that, Alphabet, a Google parent company also launch their project wing and made the announcement that they are stepping into the field of drone food delivery. They teamed up with Chipotle to test the concept at Virginia in September 2016. These drones delivered burritos to volunteer’ students deliberately positioned in an open field. The said company Alphabet received permission from federal aviation for starting to deliver food with the help of drones in Virginia.
Following the trend, Amazon also announced that they are stepping in and announced a prime air delivery drone back in 2019. They are now planning to deliver packages across the cities from Amazon platforms.
Uber Eats also join the race after passing the initial test at the University of San Diego. Still, their system is not capable of delivering the food across the entire length of delivery. Customer place orders and the affiliated and concern restaurants prepare and load their food on to the Drone and the drone then deliver the meal into a selected drop off point. The Uber Eat driver then deliver the food to the customer from the drop off point
In India, a food delivery service Swiggy tried to begin testing drone technology for supplying food and other product in June this year. In addition to that, Dunzo, a Google-backed company also announced Its drone delivery of medicines and other medical products with the name of “medicine from the sky” in Telangana. They’re also aiming to use drone delivery to provide
vaccine and medication to those people living in the rural areas or especially other areas that are not easy to reach easily.
Food panda also conducted a test flight on August 13, 2020, under the name of Pandafly. Drones are expected to reduce the delivery time up to approximately 70%. This can cause huge positive impacts on restaurants’ earning and profitability. This will also decrease the demand for delivery drivers. For short distances, the delivery levels tired $6 to $8 per order. this course will come down to $0.88 by using drones.


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Shriners Hospital to Move to Montreal
As part of a $ 1.1-billion Mc-Gill University Health Centre project, Shriners Hospitals for Children will be moving to a new location. The new hospital will be almost two times bigger than the current facility.
Shriners have been waiting for this move since 1999. The move will help Shriners' orthopedic and Montreal Children's Hospital to work together. Both of these facilities will be functioning from the Glen Yard location in the future.
A lot of factors ensured that the move to the new location has been delayed and it also included political reasons. The hospital also threatened to construct their new building in the year 2005 at London, Ontario.
The hospital authorities were persuaded by the Government to remain at their present location in the year 2005. They were once again encouraged to move to London in the next year but the authorities decided collectively to move to Montreal.
Shriners will need almost $23 million in financing from the members of the community and the total cost of the project will be almost $100-million. The hospital authorities are stressing that they will be using the latest technology and ensure that the new hospital will be one of the best medical facilities.
Health experts also note that the new facility will be able to help a lot of patients and also provide a lot of benefit to the patients.
New Zealand News
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- Micro Mobility shows off production version of Microlino 2.0 and 3-wheeled e-scooter
- Chinese electric motorcycle maker Evoke Motorcycles to set up shops in Spain

domain: news


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Renaissance has been appointed Apple computer supplier under the All-of-Government (AoG) IT Supply Agreement, the company has announced.
renaissance - News, Features, and Slideshows
Renaissance’s chief executive officer Richard Webb has resigned, the company has announced.
Renaissance’s general manager for distribution Warwick Grey is leaving the company to return to Microsoft. Grey has confirmed that he is moving to Microsoft and his current role at Renaissance will be filled by CIO Doug Casement.
He says that there was a premature leak to the media and adds that a more in depth announcement will be made in the coming days. An industry veteran, Grey spent over five years working for HP before moving to Renaissance. Prior to that, he was Microsoft’s small business manager for five years.
Apple's co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs has died. The company has made the official announcement on its website.
Renaissance announced today the launch of its 24/7 call centre service for business and consumer customers.
The new service is based on Onehunga and will provide technology support, as well as operational, project and development services to New Zealand businesses.
According to James Cowie, Renaissance’s Chief Services Officer, over the past few years, there have been an increasing number of support calls coming through outside of the traditional 9 to 5 workday. “With New Zealand being such an export led economy, we are seeing more businesses operate into the evenings to take account of geographical time differences” says Cowie.
Prior to this launch, Renaissance provided customers with 0800 numbers for difference specialities and only available during working hours. The new number is 0800 4 YOOBEE (0800 4 966 233), named after Renaissance’s new creative brand, means that all the previous numbers have been rolled into one and the services will be available 24/7.
Renaissance’s contact centre receives an average of 600 calls a day and, according to Cowie, customer satisfaction has risen to 90% since the new service was put in place.
Renaissance has also announced the opening of a clean-room for repairing high definition displays.
“Even the most minute dust spec, when back-lit, provides an annoying spot on the screen when viewed by a customer. Therefore we have to spend a lot of time ensuring we meet the highest standards of screen repair. This facility has also had the benefit of cutting our repair time down by 80%, which frees up our specialists to further help our customers in other areas, and supporting our customers is what we are all about, “ adds Cowie.
Renaissance enterprise general manager Chris Parnell is set to follow former customer service representative Janet Bailey by joining Auckland-based Apple reseller and IBM business partner Imagetext.
Parnell starts at the company on September 1 while Bailey, who left Renaissance in July, began this month. Managing director Darius Mistry says the pair will develop new business for the company.
Renaissance Group has posted an after tax profit of $473,000 for the first half of 2010, up 150 percent on the previous corresponding half year but well short of the after tax surplus of $1.46 million it announced for the corresponding 2008 half year.
In the latest half year announcement, the company's revenue was up seven percent for the period year on year, to $100.8 million. Net debt was reduced from $3 million to below $500,000.
HP ANZ personal systems group marketing manager Warwick Grey is taking up the position of Renaissance chief marketing officer on Monday, August 23.
He is replacing Natalie Brown who has resigned.
Renaissance has appointed Guy McKee as its general manager of Apple products.
The company says it is a new role which falls under the products business. It previously had a separate Apple division, which included long-serving channel manager Janet Bailey who is leaving the company.
Renaissance managing director Paul Johnston has resigned following the company’s downgrading of its guidance for its full-year profit.
On Wednesday, Renaissance announced that it had revised its guidance for the full-year result from a projected $1.7-$2 million to $700,000.
Distributor Renaissance reported a net profit before tax of $280,000 in the six months to June 30, down from $2.1 million in the half year to June 2008.
However, sales of $94.56 million were at about the same level as last year.


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Seabourn Cruise Line tests more all-inclusive fares
ORLANDO — Tired of paying for extras while on a luxury cruise vacation? You might want to take a look at the latest offering from Seabourn Cruise Line.
The luxury operator is testing a more all-inclusive alternative to its current pricing formula that bundles the cost of a cruise with airfare, pre- and post-cruise hotel stays and up to $2,000 in credits for shore excursions, a top executive told attendees this week at the CruiseOne/Cruises Inc. National Conference here.
Speaking during a panel discussion in front of more than 700 CruiseOne and Cruises Inc. travel agents, Seabourn's senior director for national accounts Charles Dunwoody said the line had been testing the program on select sailings for several weeks and could expand it if it's a success.
"It's been very well received so far," he noted.
Seabourn already includes gratuities and alcoholic drinks in its fares.
Several other luxury lines including Regent Seven Seas and Crystal Cruises have been shifting to a more all-inclusive pricing model in recent years. Regent now includes pre-cruise hotel stays and shore excursions in its fares, and Crystal this year began including gratuities and alcoholic beverages in its fares.


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St. Gregory the Great Church will be holding their annual Christmas Craft Fair on November 25 and 26, 2017 from 9 am to 3 pm at the CCD Center, 1043 Stafford Ave. Bristol, CT.
The fair will have 40 local crafters, featuring floral designs, jewelry, home decor, chocolates, glassware and more.
A large number of themed baskets created by various ministries and parishioners will be raffle off, including the ever popular lottery tree.
The Christmas Attic will be open selling gently used Christmas decor and ornaments at very reasonable prices. Breakfast and Lunch are available at our kitchen both days.
Admission is FREE and the Fair ends with the drawing for the winners of the annual church raffle.
For more information contact Ginny DeLuzio at firstname.lastname@example.org
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SILVER SPRING, MD — An outbreak of cyclospora linked to McDonald’s salads has sickened at least 61 people in seven states, federal health officials said Friday. The Food and Drug Administration is working with McDonald’s to identify the salad ingredients making people sick and trace them through the supply chain. As a precaution, McDonald’s has stopped selling the salads in 3,000 fast food restaurants in 14 states to try to contain the outbreak, the FDA said. The states are Illinois, […]
LONDON — Donald Trump has advised British Prime Minister Theresa May to “sue” the European Union to resolve the tense negotiations over Britain’s impending exit from the bloc. The American president told reporters Friday at a joint press conference with May that he had given the British leader a suggestion that she found too “brutal.” Asked Sunday on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show what that suggestion was, May said with an amused expression: “He told me I should sue the […]
CHICOPEE, Mass. – Tens of thousands of people got up bright and early for the Great New England Air and Space show, but guests say they didn’t mind as the show did not disappoint. The U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds precision aerial demonstration team is scheduled to perform Saturday and Sunday at the Westover Air Reserve Base in Chicopee. It’s the first time the Thunderbirds have performed at Westover in a decade. There are 18 different aerial acts each day, including […]
BOSTON – General Electric has embarked on a sweeping makeover aimed at returning the iconic company to greatness. In 2016, the company moved its headquarters from Fairfield to Boston, although the company still thousands of employees in the Connecticut. Wall Street loved GE’s decision to break itself apart by getting rid of its health care, oil and gas and locomotive businesses. The beaten-down stock enjoyed its best day in three years as GE promised to simplify itself and clean up the […]


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Some of the cases Apple is involved with, especially related to patent infringement, take years to complete. And that’s the case with this particular one.
Back in 2015, Apple was ordered to pay millions of dollars to the University of Wisconsin, as the university was able to plead its case that Apple’s A-series chips (the A7 and A8, specifically in this case) infringed on a method of boosting the efficiency of integrated circuits. Apple, of course, appealed, and things have been a bit topsy-turvy ever since.
The bill Apple was facing was originally set at $862 million. After that, a subsequent judge considered the valuation of that determination and reduced the payout from Apple’s end, down to $234 million. The determination was that Apple’s infringement of the patents was ruled inadvertent. However, most recently, it was determined that Apple continued to infringe on the patents after taht ruling and therefore Apple was ruled to pay $506 million.
Apple, still appealing, was determined to get that amount of money reduced or vacated altogether. Apple argued that the judgements were “fraught with error”.
Now, Reuters is reporting that Apple has “persuaded” a federal appeals court to throw out the $234 million decision against the company:
“Apple Inc persuaded a federal appeals court on Friday to throw out a $234 million damages award in favor of the University of Wisconsin’s patent licensing arm for infringing the school’s patent on computer processing technology.
The U.S. Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. said no reasonable juror could have found that Apple’s processors infringed the patent, based on evidence presented during the liability phase of the 2015 trial.”
So, a win for Apple! Only took three years![via Reuters]


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Search It. Click It. Say It.
Aug 02, 2018 12:44PM ● Published by Emily Stevenson
For bankers, the future of digital banking is now, say three chief executives of Southeastern regional financial institutions, but it’s no longer just about apps.
“It’s almost impossible to have a discussion about banking without talking about digital,” says D. Bryan Jordan, chairman, president, and chief executive officer of First Horizon National Corporation, a financial services company with $40 billion in assets.
“In some sense, it’s sort of like looking at the iPhone in 2007 when it came out and saying in 10 years we’re going to be doing remote deposit capture and transfers or bank balances on your iPhone,” he says. “I never would have guessed that 10 years ago.”
Jordan joined two other bank executives—Lynn Harton, president, chief operating officer, and director of United Community Banks, Inc. and president and CEO of the company’s $12.3 billion subsidiary bank, United Community Bank; and Kessel Stelling Jr., chairman and CEO of Synovus—on the third annual CEO panel in June hosted by the Upstate Risk Management Association, a financial services trade association. The panel discussed banking and economic topics at the Gunter Theatre in downtown Greenville.
In interviews before the panel discussion, the CEOs shared their insights on digital banking. They stressed that the banking experience matters whether a customer talks to Alexa or Google Home, communicates on Facebook Messenger, uses a favorite app, calls in to a call center, visits a website, or even walks into a store or branch.
“In the big picture, customer expectations are now search it, either click on it or even say it, and get it,” Harton said. “The question that I struggle with is what’s the right speed to get there without spending too much money?”
UCB is preparing by getting backlinks working, moving up search-engine criteria, and upgrading its mobile banking system to be more flexible, he said. The bank also is testing an online mortgage approval process and preparing to test online account openings.
The goal is to originate a customer relationship and sustain it digitally, Harton said. “I hope I’m not going too slow.”
The key, Jordan said, will be to take technology, create relationships, and differentiate the experience to give customers a reason to do business with a bank.
First Horizon’s companies include First Tennessee Bank and FTB Advisors locations in and around Tennessee; Capital Bank locations in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida; and FTN Financial offices in the U.S.
Stelling, who began his career with Synovus in March 2006 when the company purchased Riverside Bancshares and merged it with Bank of North Georgia, said larger banks have technology budgets greater than his company’s market cap. That means regional banks must choose the right vendors and financial technology, or fintech, partners and make smart bets, he said.
And “if we make a bad bet, just recognize it quickly,” Stelling said.
“We’re never going to out-technology BofA (Bank of America) or JPM (JPMorgan Chase) but you’ve got to be close behind,” he said. “We can’t lose business to them because of it.”
Stelling was named Synovus president and chief operating officer in February 2010 and was named president and CEO in October 2010. He became chairman of the board in January 2012.
Jordan, who was chief financial officer at Regions Financial Corp. before joining First Horizon, told the Gunter Theatre audience of bankers, businessmen, and businesswomen that an organization’s culture can be its greatest asset or greatest liability.
His company, he said, is managed with a series of written statements that amount to an accountability system where “we all look at each other and say, ‘Are you living up to the values of this organization?’ because it’s real easy when the pressure gets on to say ‘I want to cut this corner, I want to cut that corner. That rule isn’t all that important.’”
Banking is, in particular, an industry with laws and rules that have to be followed, he said.
“You’ve got to constantly be thinking about the (employee) incentive systems that you put in place, the culture you have around those incentive systems, and make sure that whatever you do that you have the customer and customer outcome at the top of whatever your culture is driving,“ Jordan said.


text: gnujoshua (540710) writes "The Free Software Foundation has announced its endorsement of the Libreboot X200, a refurbished Lenovo ThinkPad X200 sold by Gluglug. The laptop ships with 100% free software and firmware, including the FSF's endorsed Trisquel GNU/Linux and Libreboot. One of the biggest challenges overcome in achieving FSF's Respects Your Freedom certification was the complete removal of Intel's ME and AMT firmware. The AMT is a controversial proprietary backdoor technology that allows remote access to a machine even when it is powered off. Quoting from the press release: "The ME and its extension, AMT, are serious security issues on modern Intel hardware and one of the main obstacles preventing most Intel based systems from being liberated by users. On most systems, it is extremely difficult to remove, and nearly impossible to replace. Libreboot X200 is the first system where it has actually been removed, permanently," said Gluglug Founder and CEO, Francis Rowe."


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JULY 1, 2010 • Following in the footsteps of McDonalds earlier this year, Starbucks made AT&T wireless access free in all of its locations. The coffee purveyor used to charge for wireless connections, but sees the move as a competitive advantage. While some competitors argue that free access only encourages patrons to stay for hours on the purchase of one small brewed coffee, Starbucks hopes to wrap the free access in a selection of downloadable content that can be purchased online, with a portion of each sale going to the retailer.
Impact: While initially a premium consumer experience, Starbucks has been mass market oriented for years with 17,000 locations worldwide and 11,000 in the U.S. While this is less than McDonalds, it is still ubiquitous to the consumer and a sign that digital content distribution is on its way towards consumer ubiquity as well. Convenience store 7-11 is currently offering Zynga downloadable game content to consumers through product codes on packaging of in store purchases, thus it is not entirely unlikely that certain promotional game content could be distributed through Starbucks.


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Are you a fan of MediEvil on the original Playstation. Take a look at the graphics on the new remake being released soon.
Dino Dini’s Kick Off Revival playable at EGX Rezzed 2016 The legendary video game developer Dino Dini and The Digital Lounge announced that Dino Dini’s Kick Off Revival will be playable for the first time at EGX Rezzed 2016 on Sony’s PlayStation booth. EGX Rezzed 2016 takes place in London on the 7th-9th April in […]
Ratchet & Clank Story Trailer James Stevenson (Community Lead, Insomniac Games) posted on PlayStation blog today that just three weeks away from the debut of Ratchet & Clank on PS4, they released the story trailer of the game which reveals that the actual plot of the game is actually based on the upcoming movie of […]


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New York News
4 arrested in alleged debit card scheme
NEW YORK (WABC) -- Police have caught four people they say stole more than $300,000 in a fake debit card scheme.
Two of the men were caught at separate Manhattan banks, withdrawing money from flagged accounts on Thursday.
Two others were arrested in a hotel, where officers recovered cash and money orders as well as hundreds of fake cards and a magnetic strip encoding device.
They've all been charged with grand larceny.
Police say they stole cash and money orders from Chase Bank accounts using the fraudulent cards and personal identification information.
new york city, bank robbery, fraud, arrest, new york news
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37 min ago


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Samsung Galaxy A32 5G may come with Android 11 out of the box, an alleged HTML5 test database listing suggests. The phone’s design was recently leaked in the form of renders, showing a notched display and minimal camera bump. Now, the latest development suggests that the Galaxy A32 5G will come with Android 11. While the listing does not mention the name of the Samsung phone, it comes with model number SM-A326B, believed to be the Galaxy A32 5G.
The HTML5 test database listing shows a Samsung phone with model number SM-A326B, believed to be the Galaxy A32 5G. The only piece of information that the listing provides other than the model number is that the phone is running Android 11. This suggests that Samsung Galaxy A32 5G could come with Android 11 out of the box. It will likely run One UI 3.0, although nothing has yet been confirmed by the South Korean tech giant.
The HTML5 Test database listing was first spotted by GalaxyClub and independently verified by Gadgets 360.
Alleged renders of the rumoured Samsung Galaxy A32 5G were recently spotted online, showing a 6.5-inch display and a quad rear camera setup. The report states that the phone will come with a plastic back panel that is flat, along with a notch for the selfie camera at the front. The quad rear camera setup that is reportedly headlined by a 48-megapixel primary sensor can be seen in the renders and it sits flush with the back panel with no distinct camera module as such. The Galaxy A32 5G may come with a USB Type-C port and a 3.5mm headphone jack.
It should be noted that Samsung has not shared any information about the Galaxy A32 5G. It had reportedly trademarked names of nine smartphones in the Galaxy A series and Samsung Galaxy A32 was one of them.
Is this the end of the Samsung Galaxy Note series as we know it? We discussed this on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.


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Rediff.com, a popular Indian web portal, saw its stock jump 61% in its first day of trading on Nasdaq, a sparkling performance that's becoming increasingly rare for newly listed internet companies.
Mumbai-based Rediff sold 4.6 million American depositary receipts (ADR) for $12 each to raise $55.2 million. It is the first Indian web service to be listed on Nasdaq. The company's ADRs rose $7.03 to $19.03 yesterday, with more than 6 million ADRs trading hands. Each ADR represents two underlying Rediff shares.
Rediff, which was formed in 1996, provides information, e-mail, chat-rooms, job search sites and educational tools to Indian internet users around the world. It also sells books, movie tickets, music and other products online. The company is benefiting from a surge in internet use in India.
"We expect there will be continued encouragement from the Indian government for businesses to become internet enabled and also to promote the adoption of internet usage in homes and educational establishments," said research firm IDC in a recent report.
The number of Indian internet users is forecast to increase to 17.2 million by the end of 2004 from 950,000 in 1999, while the value of business conducted over the web is expected to rise to $4.3 billion by 2004 from $9.68 million in 1999, according to IDC.
60 million hits
Rediff claims the pages on its web site are accessed about 60 million times a month. The company plans to use part of the money raised in its lPO to acquire companies that can add to its content. Rediff's content is targeted at non-resident Indians as well as the domestic population. Earlier this month US sports shoemaker Nike said it would partner with Rediff to sell its sports shoes and sportswear online in India.
Even though it is off to a flying start with its IPO, some analysts argue that it has a tough road ahead. The Indian market for internet companies is overcrowded and ripe for consolidation, argues Matei Mihalca, an analyst at Merrill Lynch in Hong Kong. Even though Rediff attracts more traffic to its site than many of its competitors, it uses more personnel and spends more on advertising to do so, he says. The company lost $6.7 million in the year ended 31 March. It had sales of $1.9 million.
Rediff's IPO was managed by Goldman Sachs.


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Matt Lowe, project manager for a custom metal company, lives in Dallas, Georgia, less than a mile from the Walmart Supercenter, where he makes most of his grocery purchases.
When the store opened a new health clinic 2 weeks ago, I was eager to check it out.
“I have not used medical services yet, but I have talked to them and I am definitely a fan of the initial pricing structure,” said Lowe, who has lived in the region for 13 years.
“Then, as I understand it, if I undergo a physical examination with laboratories, they will tell me before starting the cost of the exam and the cost of laboratory work,” he told Healthline.
Lowe believes that the clinic will be a good thing for consumers.
“Create a free market alternative to the disaster our health system has become,” he said. “I mean, think about the last time you were in the hospital or the doctor’s office. Did you know how much things would cost before accepting treatment?
He also believes that this will be good for Walmart.
“Because as he is now,” he said, “Amazon can’t compete with him.”
Does Lowe plan to use the clinic for his medical care?
“Yes, we will use it,” he said.
The new Walmart adventure
Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, has been dipping its feet in sanitary waters in recent years with its care clinics.
These 19 clinics in Georgia, South Carolina and Texas provide basic medical needs with a limited number of services in approximately 1,500 square feet of space in each store.
But this month, Walmart dove more when he opened his first Walmart Health clinic in Lowe’s hometown of Georgia.
Unlike the clinics previously opened by the company, Walmart Health employs doctors along with nurse practitioners and other medical professionals.
It is a full-service health center that provides consumers with primary care, laboratories, x-rays, dental, hearing, psychological counseling, audiology and other services.
The new facility in Dallas, which is 10,000 square feet in a separate building connected to the main Walmart store, is the company’s first effort to hang the tiles of an MD at its outlets.
Marcus Osborne, the company’s vice president of health and wellness transformation, told Healthline that the early reaction of consumers and the community has been positive.
“We are hearing from customers how much they appreciate having the center open and how convenient it is to be able to go somewhere,” said Osborne.
He adds that the clinic is also receiving positive comments from doctors who are grateful for the space to meet the diverse needs of the Dallas community.
“We are also seeing a lot of pedestrian traffic, customers who are intrigued and want to know more,” he said.
But Osborne did not reveal how many patients have been seen since the clinic opened a couple of weeks ago.
“We are not revealing any number, but we are very happy with the answer, and the schedules have been full,” he said.


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People like to try new things â now more than ever, according to foodservice and retail industry reports.
Despite the shape of the economy, consumers arenât just going back to basics. Theyâre looking for flavors from around the world, trying to find innovative tastes theyâve never experienced. Specialty produce companies are up on this trend, ready to supply ethnic restaurants with the tamarind or savoy cabbage they need, as well as consult the American restaurant on how to incorporate an item to set it apart from its competition.
Karen Caplan, president of Friedaâs Inc., Los Alamitos, Calif., said ethnic food has been on the rise for a long time, but that the trend has more traction lately.
Courtesy Frieda's Inc.
Tamarindo is also known as the Indian date, according to Frieda's Inc.'s Web site. Its pulp is used in drinks, chutneys, curries and other tropical specialties, according to the site.
Retail sales of ethnic foods, which have been climbing steadily since 2004, are set to hit a record high of more than $2 billion in 2009, according to a recent report from Mintel, a consumer, media and market research firm with U.S. headquarters in Chicago. Consumers are cooking different ethnic meals at home more often, and the foodservice industry generally sets the trend for eating at home.
âIn regards to foodservice, theyâve always tried to differentiate themselves, being up with the next culinary trend, and it ends up trickling down to retail,â said Robert Schueller, director of public relations for Los Angeles-based World Variety Produce, marketer of Melissaâs brand specialty produce.
Schueller said the emergence of more varieties of specialty produce available on a year-round basis helps restaurants create different dishes with ethnic flavors on menus.
âGuavas, for example, are now available on a year-round basis instead of seasonally,â Schueller said. âAnd thatâs a staple ingredient in Mexican cuisine.â
As much as chefs and restaurant operators tout seasonal menus, the truth is, when they find something that works, they want it to be a staple dish on their menus, and they want it to be available year-round, Schueller said.
Caplan said seasonal menus are picking up, though, even among chain restaurants, so whether a produce needs to be available year-round depends on the restaurant company.
Mexican and Hispanic foods make up the majority of the ethnic food market with 62% of sales at retail, according to the Mintel report, but the category isnât the fastest growing. Indian food saw a 35% sales growth from 2006-08, and Asian food had 11% growth.
According to Technomic Inc.âs 2009 Flavor Consumer Trend Report, consumers want new options at restaurants, and they want those options to be inspired by flavors from around the world. Technomicâs consumer survey found 42% of foodservice consumers are more likely to visit restaurants with new or unique flavors on the menu.
âNow you go to the Cheesecake Factory, for example, and youâll find a lot of Asian foods, curry, and Mexican options,â Caplan said.
Mexican, Asian and Italian flavors are mentioned on menus heavily, and both have strong ties to fresh ingredients, said Kelly Wiekel, senior research analyst for Technomic and author of the report.
Wiekel said garlic and pepper flavors are especially prevalent in these three ethnic food categories. Hot and smoky peppers, chilies, jalapenos, citrus and lime are top flavors in Mexican cuisine, she said.
âFruits seem to be appearing often on the menu as ingredients in tropical-style Mexican sauces, such as in the tamarind-flavored sauces at the emerging chain El Torito,â Wiekel said.
Chilies and other peppers are also popular in Italian and Asian cuisines, as well as aromatic citrus, garlic, ginger, orange and lemon in Asian cuisines, according to the report. Consumers reported lime and chili flavors in the top 10 among the most appealing flavors for them.
Consumers may have an idea of what they like, but they also reported a desire to try something new. Two-thirds of consumers said discovering a new flavor at a restaurant can persuade them to return, while more than half said they would want to try new dishes at that same restaurant. Consumers also reported being more interested in trying new flavors than they were one year ago, and they said they are willing to spend more on a meal with new or innovative flavors.
Caplan said some of Friedaâs latest product introductions, black garlic and garlic delight, were two of the most well-received product introductions for the company.
In addition to Asian, Mexican and Italian cuisines, others on the rise are Spanish, Hawaiian, Tex-Mex, Greek and Caribbean and Mediterranean, according to the report.


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Twenty advocacy groups from the United States, Europe, Latin America and elsewhere signed a statement Wednesday urging regulators to be wary of Google’s $2.1 billion bid for fitness tracker company Fitbit Inc because of privacy and competition concerns.
The 20 organizations – which include the U.S.-based Public Citizen, Access Now from Europe and the Brazilian Institute of Consumer Defense – argued that the deal would expand the already considerable clout in digital markets of Alphabet Inc’s Google.
Acquiring Fitbit would give Google such intimate information about users as how many steps they take daily, the quality of their sleep and their heart rates.
“Past experience shows that regulators must be very wary of any promises made by merging parties about restricting the use of the acquisition target’s data. Regulators must assume that Google will in practice utilize the entirety of Fitbit’s currently independent unique, highly sensitive data set in combination with its own,” the groups said.
Australian and Canadian groups were among the signatories.
A Google spokeswoman said the tech wearables space was crowded.
“This deal is about devices, not data,” she said. “We believe the combination of Google’s and Fitbit’s hardware efforts will increase competition in the sector.”
Google announced the deal in November to take on competitors in the crowded market for fitness trackers and smart watches. Fitbit’s market share has been threatened by deep-pocketed companies like Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd.
Australia’s competition authority said this month that it may have concerns about the deal and would make a final decision in August.
EU antitrust regulators will decide by July 20 whether to clear the deal with or without concessions or open a longer investigation.
In Washington, Google is under antitrust investigation by the Justice Department, a congressional committee and dozens of states for allegedly using its massive market power to harm smaller competitors


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Work/life balance is a phrase often bandied around by companies, but the stark reality for entrepreneurs is that building a business almost always involves long, punishing hours.
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Today, MyBudget founder Tammy May explains how she ensured that work didn’t dominate her life when she started up, as well as providing some must-read tips on how others can do the same.
Meanwhile, mentor Vicki Crowe gives the lowdown on checking recruits’ references and we examine what it takes to start up a catering company.
Oliver Milman, editor


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Plump my ride!
Carmakers all over the world are finding it necessary to ‘up-size’ their offerings as a result of the ever expanding global waistline. Over the last fifty years, the average family car has become more than a foot wider and almost double the weight. The problem has become so acute that BMW has actually recruited a team of some 800 volunteers for a study on how obesity affects driving, in a plan that has been dubbed ‘Plump my ride’ after the TV show with a similar name.
“People are getting more obese and we want to find out how that limits their range of motion and how our vehicles can adapt to the changing needs of our customers,” Ralf Kaiser, a member of BMW’s ergonomics team said. “We know that a lot of overweight and obese people have problems in daily life, and in the car this starts with getting in and getting out. In general, these aren’t sporty people. We already have things like the parking distance control, which shows obstacles on a screen when you are reversing.”
Over the past decade, Honda has been wrestling with the battle of the bulge as well with a widening of their seats by two inches and newly designed buttons to accommodate “sausage fingers”. Ford has followed suit and now the average width of a seat in one of their cars has swelled to 23 inches nowadays, up 5 inches from the 18 inches it offered in 1953. Porsche will add an electrically-powered steering column to their high end models that raises the steering column when the power is turned off to allow their more portly customers to exit more comfortably.
Worrying about our expanding size isn’t new for the car industry – it’s said that obesity is the original reason for installing cameras and screens used for backing up – we’re just getting too heavy to turn all the way around and look. In fact you could say that car manufacturers are getting concerned about ‘heavy traffic’.
Even if you are a Johnny Lightweight, this should concern you. Heavy cars make for poor fuel consumption and most governments have the use of ever smaller cars as a cornerstone of future transportation policy. “Growing waistlines simply prevent many motorists from feeling comfortable or secure in a small car,” according to Dan Cheung, VP at business consulting firm AT Kearney. “We may be destined to keep driving ever bigger cars no matter how much the cost of petrol in the future.” He may have a point as sales figure for the first half of the year for small cars in the USA stood at 22.6%, down from the 28% in 2008 when petrol prices were at US$4 per gallon.


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How South Africa is attracting the world’s leading hospitality experts to advise on growth for the next decade
Some of the world’s leading experts in hospitality have agreed to appear at the inaugural The Hotel Show Africa as part of its international three-day conference.
The Hotel Show Africa brings together leading hospitality suppliers from around the world alongside the three-day Vision Conference, focused this year on developing sub-Saharan Africa’s hotel industry.
Vision Conference chairman Martin Kubler (pictured) has more than two decades of international experience running four and five star hotels across Europe and the Middle East.
“Africa presents amazing opportunities, but also its own unique challenges,” says Kubler. “The Vision Conference at The Hotel Show in Dubai attracts hundreds of delegates and I believe we will present over the three days in June, a powerful insight into future growth for the African market.”
The first day starts with a presentation on the outlook for Africa’s hospitality and tourism market by Gillian Saunders, who is Deputy CEO of audit tax and advisory firm, Grant Thornton in Johannesburg, and Head of Advisory Services in South Africa. Gillian has 25 years’ consulting to the hospitality, tourism and leisure industries.
The Hotel Show Africa 2017 is adapted for the continent and based on international organiser dmg events MEA’s highly successful The Hotel Show in Dubai.
Dubai has seen growth in hotel rooms over the past 15 years unequaled anywhere else in the world and the city will provide some guest speakers for The Vision Conference in South Africa.
Bani Haddad, founder and managing director, Aleph Hospitality (Dubai) will host a key session examining how Africa can fund its hotels. Third party investment and franchising is already responsible for more than 260,000 hotel rooms in the USA – but is still to be exploited in Africa.
He’s joined by Scott Antel, Hospitality and Leisure Partner, Berwin Leighton Paisner, who has more than 20 years’ experience advising both owners-developers and international operators across the Middle East, Russia/CIS, the Baltics and Asia. He was awarded the Russia/CIS Hotel Investment Forum’s 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to emerging markets.
The Hotel Show Africa 2017 and The Vision Conference will take place from June 25 to 27 at The Gallagher Conference Centre co-located with the continent’s long-established food and beverage show Africa’s Big 7. This is the biggest food and hospitality platform ever staged and both are part of three co located events under the Retail & Hospitality Week 2017 banner.
“The Hotel Show Africa brings a new focus to the hospitality industry,” says Tshifhiwa Tshivhengwa, CEO of the Federated Hospitality Association of Southern Africa (FEDHASA), which is a strategic partner for show.
The hospitality sector is a key growth target for governments across sub-Saharan Africa and the continent has almost 30,000 new rooms under construction at 159 hotels this year.
Top national and international suppliers have signed up to showcase hospitality products for restaurants, cafes, bars and hotels, right through to food & beverage service outlets.
Christine Davidson, Vice President of organiser dmg events says: “We are very excited to bring a globally recognised brand to the Africa hospitality market and have been working closely with the industry to ensure the show meets the needs of all hospitality professionals.”
The Hotel Show 2017 is part of Retail & Hospitality Week 2017 at The Gallagher Convention Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa, from June 25 to 27.
Learn more about The Hotel Show Africa 2017 and The Vision Conference at www.thehotelshowafrica.com


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Inspired by the Jeepster Commando, the Jeep Wrangler has always been available with half doors since 1988, introduced in the YJ Wrangler generation. It’s designed to provide an open-air feel while still having a rigid structure to protect the occupants from the outside.
For the current JL, its arrival has been confirmed as well, and we’ve seen several spy shots of the Wrangler prototype with half doors – most recently in the snow.
Now, we can confirm the half-door options pricing. Jeep has added the option in its online configurator for the 2021 model year. All you need to do is check.
Perhaps the biggest news on this one is that the half-door option is available across all trim levels of the Wrangler. This is in contrast to the initial speculations that it will be exclusive for the V8-powered Wrangler Rubicon 392, which previewed the option during its reveal.
The Wrangler half-door option is also available on both two-door and four-door models but naturally comes with a huge margin. For the two-door models, it is priced at $2,350, while the four-door models get the option for $3,995.
More importantly, the half-door option is listed on Jeep’s configurator as “Dual Door Group w/ Base Uppers.” Our pals from Muscle Cars & Trucks confirmed that this means that Wrangler buyers who would be adding the option will be getting both the standard doors and the half doors.
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The configurator doesn’t show any official image of the half doors, but you can browse through the spy shots above to get a visual.


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PHNOM PENH—Ahead of Monday's cremation of Norodom Sihanouk, Cambodians are expected to flood the streets this weekend to mourn their two-time king. But many Cambodians say the former monarch's death last year only underscores that control of this Southeast Asian nation lies elsewhere—with its longtime prime minister, Hun Sen.
"The king has some power," Seourn Sok, a 25-year-old construction worker in Phnom Penh, said of the ex-monarch, who gave up his throne to his son Sihamoni in 2004 and died in October at the age of 89. "But far less than Hun Sen."
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Some people love durian for its unique layers of flavor and creamy texture, which they say beats anything man-made. Each durian fruit is also unique in its scent and flavor so there’s a surprise and great anticipation for the next piece that you put into your mouth.
People say that in China, there are only two things they queue up for — one was when the iPhone X was released and the other, is durian from Malaysia. Demand for durian, that famously delicious or stinky fruit — depending on who you ask — is experiencing a major boom in China. In April, Chinese consumers snapped up 80,000 durians in just 60 seconds on online shopping site Alibaba as part of a deal between the retailer and Thailand, the largest producer of durians in the world.
A durian fair in southern China last year drew more than 150,000 Chinese buyers willing to spend big on the fruit — and it doesn’t stop there: there is also durian-flavored ice cream, coffee, and lollies as well as frozen durian and durian Halloween masks. Big western chains in Asia have taken note, too, with McDonalds making durian McFlurrys and hotcakes, and Pizza Huts serving durian pizza.
Durian imports to China have been rising on average at 35 per cent a year according to trade data from the United Nations, and were worth $1.1 billion last year, up from just $243 million a decade ago. Currently, only Thailand can import fresh durians directly into China — due to trade arrangements and processing issues around non-fresh durians — but many Chinese consumers are after different varieties of the fruit such as the highly pungent Musang King, which is grown in Malaysia and is banned on many public transport systems in South-East Asia.
Side-stepping import restrictions through HK, eating tours
Durians are best eaten fresh. To attract more Chinese tourists, the best way is to bring them here to enjoy the freshest durians. But unlike China, Hong Kong has no restrictions on importing fresh Malaysian durians, and has seen frenzied buying from Chinese mainland durian tourists in recent years.
People paid on average up to $US60 for a single fruit and sometimes more if it had been a poor growing season, with some reporting prices in the hundreds of dollars for a single durian of a prized variety. All of the fresh Malaysian durian comes via Hong Kong — logistics, costs, and high real estate prices contribute to higher prices here.
More recently, durian buying and eating tours have become increasingly popular with Chinese tourists who fly to Malaysia especially to buy up large quantities of the fruit.
Durian is ‘extremely divisive’ with reports of murders
The durian often invokes a love or hate relationship — some people have literally killed to get their hands on the fruit while it also had at least two typhoons named after it.
In 2016, a Malaysian durian seller was reportedly stabbed to death after an argument with a customer dissatisfied with the quality of his durians. Another durian-related murder case was reported by Malaysian local media in 2011, when a woman allegedly assaulted her brother-in-law with a piece of wood after a fight over a durian.
In Thailand, a wild elephant was so determined to get its trunk on a stash of durians it smashed down a store room wall and stole a horde of durians worth thousands of dollars.
In Australia last year, 500 people at Victoria University’s Melbourne campus were evacuated after someone left a rotting durian in a locker, and a similar incident occurred at a Melbourne Hospital in 2014.
Obama temporarily barred from Air Force One due to durian-breath
In 2014 April, Former US President Barack Obama, on-route to the Philippines after completing a 3-day visit to Malaysia, was denied entry into the presidential plane Air Force One by the Secret Service after his durian-tainted breath triggered the aircraft’s hazardous gas sensors.
Mr. Obama, who had just enjoyed a large serving of the thorny fruit known for its pungent, strong smell yet delicious taste, was stopped by his own security personnel at the aircraft door and asked to return to his armored limousine and taken to a nearby airport VIP lounge where he could decontaminate his mouth.
A Secret Service spokeswoman said that this drastic measure was unusual, but needed to be taken for the safety of the entire plane, as the Asian fruit’s overwhelming smell, quoted by some as ‘reeking of garbage stink’, could overcome the other personnel and endanger the flight. We can’t have our pilots or other staff suffocating just because Mr. Obama says ‘Hi’ to them, unleashing the smell of hell unto them.
According to some other unverified sources, the order to quarantine the president came all the way from Washington DC — the First Lady herself. She was on video chat with him when he made the decision to make the durian pit stop. He didn’t tell her why he had to drop her call all of a sudden, but she saw his face, and she knew. She had seen it before when the First Couple visited an Asian store in Texas last year and chanced upon a pack of frozen durians. She made the call to the Secret Service with specific instructions to ‘not let POTUS in the plane until he gets rid of that wretched breath’.
The new palm oil? Farmers opt for controversial fruit
In Malaysia — the second biggest durian producer after Thailand — farmers have started replacing palm oil plantations with durian in anticipation of the current ban on fresh imports from Malaysia to China being lifted when the countries finalize a deal later this year.
According to former Malaysian Agriculture Minister, Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek, durians can yield nine times more than palm oil per hectare and there is huge opportunity for growth in China. Ms. Gasik said more people were investing in new durian orchards, but the fruit can be difficult to grow because it was susceptible to seasonal variations in yield and price.
แพคเกจจิ้งใส่อาหารบริษัท ซี เอฟ พี อินเตอร์เนชั่นแนล | ขายส่งบรรจุภัณฑ์ ฟิล์มถนอมอาหาร แพคเกจจิ้ง พลาสติก กล่องกระดาษใส่อาหารสวยๆ ถุงกระดาษใส่อาหาร ถุงซิป กระดาษคราฟท์ แพคเกจจิ้งเบเกอรี่ แพคเกจใส่อาหาร แก้วร้อน ฟิล์มพันพาเลท


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A.P. Møller-Mærsk, the Danish conglomerate with business operations in the transportation, logistics and energy sectors, announced the seven startups that will join its second edition of FoodTrack by Mærsk.
Among the seven that were chosen is AgVoice, a startup in the Advanced Technology Development Center’s (ATDC) portfolio of companies.
AgVoice is a mobile voice-interaction service designed for food and agriculture professionals to capture and share business-critical insights, on-the-go, and hands-free.
More than 142 companies applied to FoodTrack by Mærsk and the selected startups will qualify for for an investment from Mærsk Growth, which serves as its venture arm.
Read the full story here.


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Immersive bingo experience to launch in east London next month: An immersive bingo experience is to launch in east London next month. Dabbers Social Bingo will aim to reinvigorate the experience, replacing cups of tea with cocktails, bingo callers with comedians and “dreary prizes” with “incredible experiences”. Entrepreneur Ed Wethered will team up with the brains behind Musical Bingo, Gospeloke, and Comedy House Party, with backing from the founder of Picturehouse Cinemas, to launch the venture in Houndsditch. Dabbers will “repurpose and modernise” bingo via interactive game show elements and a new food and drink offering. The menu will feature a contemporary take on all things round, including melon balls wrapped in ham, and round waffles with crumble and cinnamon sugar. Drinks will include craft beer, cocktails and wine. Guests will be able to tuck into treats as they play bingo, with drinks and dishes served at table. The experience will include classic bingo on Tuesday nights hosted by veteran callers “coaxed out of retirement”. Bingo Voyage on Fridays will offer an exclusive weekend away as the main prize. Disco Bingo on Saturday nights will feature UV lights, while comedians will host Family Brunch bingo on Sundays. A spokeswoman said: “Bingo has been about for 500 years because it offers an opportunity to socialise. It creates community and is exciting, fun, accessible and, of course, there are chances to win.”
Vibration Group to launch multimillion-pound venue and events space at Greenwich Peninsula: Venue Lab, the Vibration Group company behind Printworks London and Landing Forty Two, is to open a multimillion-pound events space in the capital. The company will launch Magazine London next summer at the Greenwich Peninsula development, near North Greenwich tube station. The venue will offer a flexible 5,394 square metre space across two main rooms and two large mezzanine areas ideal for seminars. Magazine London will also feature an adjoining “showground” – a 13,985 square metre, 7,000-capacity landscaped area on the banks of the Thames that will take the venue’s total capacity to 10,000 people. Vibration Group has partnered with international property and investment company Knight Dragon on the project. Vibration Group chief executive Simon Tracey said: “London is still at the forefront of the global conferencing and exhibition market and Magazine, with it’s incredible flexibility indoor and out, will be ground-breaking.” Knight Dragon chief executive Richard Margree added: “Magazine London fits superbly with what we’re doing on Greenwich Peninsula – creating a new London underpinned by creativity and a community with culture and entertainment at its heart.”
Flight Club lands in Manchester, first UK site outside London: Social darts concept Flight Club has launched its first UK site outside the capital, in Manchester. The venue has opened in King Street offering bookings for groups of up to 120 people, tournaments for up to 200 and team-building experiences. The former Burger & Lobster site includes Flight Club’s feature bar and 14 oches – each with its own seating area and table service. The menu includes sliders, pizza, fries, bar snacks and sharing plates, while the drinks list includes craft beer, wine, shots, spirits and house cocktails. Flight Club’s London sites are in Bloomsbury and Shoreditch, while a third venue will open at the Nova development in Victoria on Friday, 30 November. In September, the company lodged plans for a venue in Birmingham and said it was investigating three further UK venues after securing £15m of growth funding. The company, which also has a venue in Chicago, is looking to launch shuffleboard concept Electric Shuffle in London next year.
M&S lowering price on hundreds of food items: Marks & Spencer (M&S) is shaping its business by lowering prices on hundreds of food items. Chief executive Steve Rowe revealed the move to the BBC with food “trading behind our expectations”. M&S has reported falling clothing and food sales and warned it sees little improvement in sales this year. Like-for-like sales were down 2.2% for the six months to the end of September. Food sales were down 2.9%, while clothing and home sales slid 1.1%. M&S warned trading conditions for the remainder of the financial year would remain “challenging”, while the company expected “little improvement in sales trajectory”. Rowe said: “What we are doing is making sure we protect the magic of M&S.” Revenue fell 3.1% to £4.96bn but underlying pre-tax profits were up 2% to £223.5m.
Whitbread appoints new non-executive director: Whitbread has appointed Frank Fiskers as a non-executive director. He will join the company on 1 February and become a member of the audit committee. Fiskers is former chief executive of Scandic Hotels and is currently a non-executive director of both Scandic and Shurgard Self Storage, although he will step down from his position at Scandic. He is also an industrial advisor to EQT Partners. Fiskers has more than 35 years’ experience in the hospitality industry in Europe and Africa, including positions with Radisson SAS, Hilton Worldwide, Azure Properties and First Hotels. Whitbread chairman Adam Crozier said: “Through his wealth of experience in the hotel industry, Frank’s expertise will be of great value to the Whitbread board as we continue to expand Premier Inn in the UK and internationally.”
Team behind Brixton restaurant Salon launch Peckham sister site: The team behind Brixton restaurant Salon has launched a sister site in Peckham. Nicholas Balfe, Mark Gurney and Matt Bushnell have opened Levan in Blenheim Grove focusing on contemporary European dishes inspired by “new-wave bistronomy”. Levan is housed in a converted warehouse and consists of two main spaces – a large dining area and a bar with high tables for walk-ins. The restaurant offers pastries and croque monsieur in the morning, while the lunch menu reflects European bistro classics. The evening menu consists of smaller sharing plates and heartier dishes such as smoked pollack with spinach, while the drinks list includes French wine and bespoke cocktails.
Denbies developing UK’s first vineyard hotel: Surrey-based wine estate Denbies is developing the UK’s first vineyard hotel as part of a £4m investment in its estate near Dorking. The company is transforming its Farmhouse Bed & Breakfast into a 17-bedroom hotel, which will open in the spring after HSBC UK provided a £1.7m funding package. The hotel will be in the centre of the vineyard and offer a bar and restaurant championing local produce. A major part of Denbies’ investment will go into modernising and expanding the winery next year. Chief executive Christopher White said: “In addition to introducing the UK’s first vineyard hotel, we will quadruple our sparkling wine production capacity by the end of 2019. Moreover, our sustained programme of new plantings and planned winery investments will enable us to expand while continuing to drive the quality of our sparkling wine. We will also make sure we support growing demand for our full range of still wine.” Nick Hicks, area director for HSBC UK in Sussex and Surrey, added: “This is a hugely exciting investment that will see Denbies Wine Estate transformed into a unique attraction. The funding package provided by HSBC is enabling Denbies to incorporate environmentally friendly solutions, ensuring the UK’s first vineyard hotel will operate sustainably and ethically.”
Stonegate to launch Slug and Lettuce winter walk-in menu: Stonegate Pub Company is to launch a winter walk-in menu for its Slug and Lettuce brand. The menu will launch nationwide on Tuesday, 13 November featuring a festive burger, sub and sharer board. The festive beef burger will come topped with turkey, stuffing, bacon, cheese and a “pig in blankets”, while the new sub will be filled with turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, lettuce and a pig in blankets! The Festive Sharer will feature mini-burgers and a whole baked camembert, with garlic bread fingers for dipping. There will also be two and three-course set menus, with vegan and vegetarian versions of festive classics. Christmas cocktails will include a Snowball Martini and gin and prosecco-based Sloe-Secco.
SA Brain lodges plans for Coffee#1 site in Christchurch: Cardiff-based brewer and retailer SA Brain has lodged plans for a Coffee#1 site in Christchurch, Dorset. The company has applied to Christchurch Borough Council to convert a former Shoe Zone shop in High Street. Coffee#1, which has branches in nearby Winton and Southbourne, has proposed opening hours of 7am to 7pm, Monday to Saturday, and 8am to 6pm on Sundays, reports the Bournemouth Echo. A statement accompanying the application said the change of use had numerous benefits. It added: “These include improving footfall in the shopping area, adding to the vitality and viability of the town centre, encouraging consumers to remain longer in the shopping area, providing a venue for social interaction, creating jobs and long-term investment in Christchurch.” Coffee#1 opened its first store in Cardiff in 2001, with SA Brain acquiring the business in 2011. It currently has 92 sites.
TGI Friday’s crowns UK bartending champion: Gary Burdekin has been crowned TGI Friday’s UK Bartender Champion 2018. Burdekin, who works at the company’s venue in Derby, will now represent the UK and challenge the world’s best bartenders in TGI Friday’s World Bartender Championships, which will take place in the US early next year. In total, 8,000 bartenders from 60 countries entered the competition. Russ Ward, who had won the UK competition for five years running, did not enter this year’s event and was its technical judge instead.
Festival food brand opens permanent site: Shwings, which has served chicken wings at a variety of festivals across the UK, has launched a permanent site in Chelmsford. The venue has opened in New London Road in a premises that formerly housed fairtrade cafe A Canteen. The Shwings menu will feature seven flavours of chicken wings served with a variety of sides. The restaurant also cooks Portuguese-style spatchcock chicken over a special oven with hot coals and real fire, reports Essex Live. According to its Twitter feed, Shwings will also be on Deliveroo, allowing diners to sample its “gourmet chicken wings” from their own home.
Nottingham-based independent pizza restaurant closes Leicester site: Nottingham-based independent pizza restaurant Oscar & Rosie’s has closed its site in Leicester. The company has shut the venue in Market Place, which opened in April last year, reports Leicestershire Live. A message from the restaurant read: “Sad to announce our Leicester branch will not be reopening. Thank you to everyone who supported us over the past 18 months in Leicester, we’ve had a great time and made lots of new friends. We hope you’ll still come to visit us in Nottingham.” Oscar & Rosie’s was founded in Nottingham in 2013 and initially operated pop-ups in The Picnic Basket and then Das Kino. It opened its first permanent restaurant in Thurland Street in 2015 before moving to larger premises in Stoney Street in August last year.
Westons reveals Stowford Press Mixed Berries most successful on-trade launch as it sells millionth pint: Cider-maker Westons has sold its one-millionth pint of Stowford Press Mixed Berries in the on-trade, six months after the product’s launch, making it the most successful on-trade launch in the company’s history. Westons previously predicted fruit variants would make up almost half of all cider sold in the UK within five years. Head of marketing Sally McKinnon said: “We were confident introducing a fruit offering for Stowford Press would bring even more consumers into the growing fruit cider category, but the success of Mixed Berries has smashed even our own ambitious target.” The fruit cider category is booming, with 195 million fruit pints now drunk in the on-trade. Sales of fruit cider across the on and off-trade are up 13.1% year-on-year.


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Northwood University to honor Jim OêConnell, Jim Koons Automotive, with Dealer Education Award
As it has done for more than forty years, Northwood University will recognize auto dealers from across the U.S. and around the world at the NADA Convention in January with its Dealer Education Award. And of the half a dozen or so in Northwoodês spotlight this year will be Jim OêConnell, president of Jim Koons Automotive Companies. Mr. OêConnell was put forward for Northwoodês DEA by John OêDonnell of WANADA who nominated him earlier in the year, which Northwood accepted for its DEA presentation at the 2015 NADA Convention.
As president of Jim Koons Automotive, Mr. OêConnell has seen to it that the automotive professionals staffing the organizationês 17 dealership locations are fully schooled on state of the art product facts so the various vehicle brands that Jim Koons markets, sells, maintains and repairs are handled properly and efficiently. OEM recognition Jim Koons Automotive receives year over year is the illustrative that staff training and education accomplishes its objective.
Jim OêConnell has also seen to it that dealer departmental staff are fully up to speed on the regulations impacting workplace safety; privacy of customer information; and finance and insurance.
As an active member of WANADAês Board several years ago, Mr. OêConnell was involved in the establishment of the Auto Dealer Education Institute (ADEI), which subsequently has put into operation the eminently successful Auto Technician Development Program that home grows line technicians from a pool of young adults employed at WANADA dealerships and educated at Montgomery College, in Rockville and Marshall Academy, in Falls Church.
The Northwood University Breakfast, where Mr. OêConnell will be honored at the NADA Convention in San Francisco, will be held on Saturday, Jan. 24, 2015. Many dealers from across the U.S. attend the breakfast at NADA being alums of Northwoodês longstanding Auto Dealer Executive Degree Program. Jim Koons himself is such a graduate.Download Bulletin PDF


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Honda’s “Joy In Motion” Presents The Type R, all-new Civic, all-new BR-V, HR-V Mugen, and Limited Ed City MIAS Edition
The long wait is over!
The Honda Civic Type R makes its way to PH shores
Honda Cars Philippines, Inc. (HCPI) has confirmed that they will unleash the much anticipated Honda Civic Type R at the 2017 Manila International Auto Show to be held at the World Trade Center, Pasay City from March 30 to April 2.
Fresh from its debut at the Geneva International Auto Show, the revealing of the Type R in MIAS will be in line with this year’s theme “Beyond Performance”, and Honda will portray “Joy In Motion” through displaying vehicles that will highlight the Japanese automaker’s striking sporty image.
The Civic Type R is powered by a turbocharged 2.0 L i-VTEC in-line four-cylinder engine with DOHC, that produces peak ratings of 306 horsepower at 6,500 rpm and 295 lb.-ft. of torque from 2,500 to 4,500 rpm.
Its interior has a 7-inch Display Audio Touchscreen interface that has both Apple CarPlay™ and Android Auto™ compatibility. The hot hatch also features a 12-speaker audio system with SiriusXM 2.0, HD Radio and Pandora compatibility.
Type R’s bolstered sports seats are colored in red and black, and its steering wheel and shift boot are wrapped in leather.
Apart from the appearance of Honda Civic Type R, HCPI will also display its accessorized concept of the all-new Civic and all-new BR-V. Both are integrated with Modulo accessories that will revive Honda’s sporty DNA.
Gearheads and customers will also witness Honda’s advanced innovation at MIAS with the launch of the new HR-V Mugen variant enhanced with a bolder and more aesthetic appeal.
Lastly, those out in the market to find a new car may very well find it with the launch of the Limited MIAS Edition of the Honda City. With a line-up of exclusive features and a production run of only eight units, this is a catch, for sure.
Take note that those who will reserve Honda Vehicles at MIAS 2017 are in for exclusive offers and packages.
These are what Honda is bringing to the table this year. See you all there!


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The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
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For years, J.Crew was riding high. Driven largely by instinct and a cult of personality, the company’s one-time dream team of “merchant prince” Mickey Drexler and “geek chic” creative director Jenna Lyons transformed the sleepy American catalogue business into a retail success story and cultural phenomenon, widely loved for its tongue-in-cheek take on classic, preppy tropes and famously embraced by former US first lady Michelle Obama.
How times have changed. In recent years, the company has suffered from poor business performance and the departure of key talent. In June, after almost three years of declining sales, Drexler stepped down as chief executive after 14 years at the company. Drexler remains J.Crew’s chairman, but the move — coming shortly after the departure of 25-year company veteran Lyons and head of menswear design Frank Muytjens — signalled the end of an era.
In its 2016 fiscal year, net sales at J.Crew were down 6 percent to roughly $2 billion. Sales at stores open at least one year were down 8 percent. In the first half of 2017, the bleeding continued with sales down 9 percent to $871.6 million. And this week, the leadership shuffle continued with the unexpected resignation of chief design officer Somsack Sikhounmuong, another member of J.Crew’s old guard who joined the company back in 2001 and had more recently been drafted to take over Lyons’ design duties on men’s, women’s and children’s product after her exit.
Certainly, some of J.Crew’s woes were self-inflicted. For a while, consumers ate up the company’s pencil skirts, patterned fabrics and ankle-baring pants. But the company got flack for becoming too high fashion, alienating core customers with more directional styles and higher prices. Together with quality concerns, this created the perception amongst some consumers that J.Crew was no longer good value for money. As full-price sales fell, the company became over-reliant on discounting. Then there was the company’s bloated retail network.
Critically J.Crew was also too slow to adapt to a fast-changing retail landscape. In recent years, the label has come under intense pressure from fast fashion giants with category-led product development strategies and sophisticated, technology-driven supply chains that enable greater speed and flexibility, making them more responsive to consumer demand and boosting overall productivity. Indeed, a month after his departure, Drexler admitted to The Wall Street Journal that he was slow to see how quickly new technology was changing the business of fashion.
Now, J.Crew’s new CEO, James Brett — who has previously held positions at Anthropologie and was once the chief merchandising officer of Urban Outfitters — is betting that greater emphasis on accessible pricing, category-led product development, data, and a more nimble supply chain will be J.Crew’s salvation, mimicking the approach of its fast fashion competitors. Importantly, these companies don’t do traditional collections. There is never one big idea for the season. Rather, their approach is more about creating product for a range of perennial categories, like workwear, bohemian or rocker.
The company has characterised Sikhounmuong’s departure as a personal choice, but according to sources, J.Crew’s shift away from a design-led strategy was at least part of the reason for the move. The company is not showing at New York Fashion Week for the first time in many seasons and has no plans to replace Sikhounmuong. (Lyons, too, who was said to be staying on as a creative advisor until the end of her contract in December 2017, is no longer working with the brand).
As part of the shift, Brett has brought on new talent, including Geren Lockhart as executive vice president of marketplace and emerging brands. The advertising executive-turned-designer previously ran contemporary label Geren Ford and designed a line for Urban Outfitters in 2008 when Brett was chief merchandising officer. Brett has also hired Steven Alan, who is consulting on menswear. (Alan also did a collaboration with Urban Outfitters when Brett was at the company).
Amid wider retail pain, there are some early signs that a similar pivot was working at Urban Outfitters, but the company has since suffered a few poor quarters. “While we are disappointed in our second quarter performance, we have a number of initiatives underway including: speed to customer, international growth, wholesale expansion and digital investments. We believe these initiatives combined with encouraging fashion apparel trends could lead to improved top-line performance,” said executive Richard A. Hayne in a statement last month.
If the strategy isn’t working at Urban Outfitters, why would it work at J.Crew? And even if the approach has theoretical potential, completely reengineering J.Crew’s design process and supply chain is a massive transformation that will surely take years to execute. What’s more, as the company shifts away from a design-led approach, there are sure to be further implications for creative talent, who may not wish to work in this way. Clearly, there are many questions for J.Crew to answer.
THE NEWS IN BRIEF
BUSINESS AND THE ECONOMY
LVMH & Kering join forces on models' charter. "The Charter on the Working Relationships with Fashion Models and Their Well-Being" is the first time that the rival luxury conglomerates have united to implement regulations within the fashion industry. It includes a commitment to ban clothing sizes 32 for women and 42 for men. The initiative was spearheaded by casting director James Scully, who captured the attention of the fashion industry with a powerful talk about the abuse of models at BoF's VOICES gathering in December.
Prada struggles to halt sales declines. The Italian house reported first-half profits missed analysts' estimates and warned that its turnaround plan may take longer than expected. Net income fell 18 percent to €115.7 million ($140 million) in the six months through July; analysts had predicted €143 million ($172 million), according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Revenue dropped 5.7 percent. The results come after the Milan-based brand embarked on a wave of store closures in 2016 as profit fell to its lowest level since its 2011 initial stock sale.
Gap Inc. shifts focus towards Old Navy and Athleta. Within the next three years, the group will close around 200 Gap and Banana Republic stores, and open 270 Athleta and Old Navy stores within the same period. Following a 5 percent rise in Gap Inc. shares, the company will focus its attention on boosting profits at Old Navy, which has performed well despite declining sales at Banana Republic and Gap. The San Francisco-based company has predicted that Old Navy will hit $10 billion in sales within the next few years.
Consolidation is de rigueur with major fashion PR firms. Fashion PR agency Karla Otto — which maintains eight international offices and clients such as Givenchy, Valentino and Marni — has announced a merger with K2, the Paris and Shanghai-based marketing and events agency. The two groups will work under the umbrella entity The Independents, while continuing to manage existing clients under their own names. The move comes as part of a strategy to offer a more integrated approach to PR, events and marketing, with the intention of acquiring additional agencies in the future. Meanwhile, London's Modus Publicity and BPCM London, the UK division of New York based BPCM, are merging to become ModusBPCM in order to better serve clients on both sides of the Atlantic.
Pierre Bergé | Source: Courtesy
Pierre Bergé Dies at 86. The French businessman and art patron — who co-founded the Yves Saint Laurent fashion house in 1961— died at his country home in St-Rémy-de-Provence in southern France following a long illness. François-Henri Pinault, chairman and chief executive of Kering paid homage to Bergé, describing him as "a great patron, a creative and passionate businessman, and a defender of noble and universal causes"; Bernard Arnault, chairman and chief executive of LVMH, said he was "deeply saddened" by Bergé's passing.
Kanye West reportedly cancels Yeezy New York Fashion Week show. An email sent by a representative for Redken, the beauty brand due to work on the show originally scheduled for September 13, said the presentation had been cancelled. Adidas later issued a statement that said: "No announcements regarding a Yeezy Season 6 presentation have been made by West Brands, Kanye West, or Adidas. Any information being reported at this time is merely speculation." Kanye West debuted the Adidas-backed Yeezy brand in February 2015, and it seemed to be enjoying commercial success; a source told BoF in February 2017 that wholesale orders for Season 4 were the largest to date.
Graydon Carter steps down as Vanity Fair editor. Condé Nast announced Thursday that Carter would be stepping down from his role after 25 years. The editor will stay on long enough to oversee the planning of the 2018 edition of Vanity Fair's Hollywood Issue, the magazine's annual triple-gatefold-cover extravaganza that he established in 1995. Carter, 68, said that he was eager for a "third act", but has not yet confirmed his next move.
SMCP's Maje appoints Isabelle Guichot as CEO. The former president and chief executive of Balenciaga will join the SMCP group on September 18. She served at the Balenciaga helm from 2007 until her departure from the house last year, when she was succeeded by Cédric Charbit; prior to that she held chief executive positions at Van Cleef & Arpels, Lancel and Sergio Rossi.
Sylvie Colin Named Kenzo CEO. LVMH has tapped the former Maje chief executive to lead Kenzo. She succeeds Eric Marechalle, who confirmed he was leaving the brand to helm Marc Jacobs in July, and begins his chief executive role next month. Colin will join the company on September 25, reporting directly to LVMH chairman and chief executive Pierre-Yves Roussel.
Scooter Braun invests in Editorialist. The website's luxury content-and-commerce business joins the music entrepreneur's growing list of investments under Ithaca Ventures. Editorialist, founded by Kate Davidson Hudson and Stefania Allen, saw revenue grow 14 percent year-over-year in 2017 and advertising revenue increase by 114 percent. The figures, amid the failure of high-profile e-commerce ventures, has attracted Braun, best known for crafting Justin Bieber's lucrative career, who is contributing an undisclosed amount to a third round of funding.
Facebook tests new business tools to monetise Whatsapp. The app is testing features that enable users to communicate with businesses, in a bid to capitalise on the messaging service with over a billion daily users. The pilot program features a green badge next to a verified business contact, and is reportedly a potential source of revenue for Whatsapp, which was acquired by Facebook for $22 billion in 2014.
Shopbop gets a brand revamp. As Amazon ramps up its fashion focus, the luxury fashion site owned by the e-commerce giant relaunched with a new logo after undergoing a redesign. The platform will play host to more editorial content, as well as engagement-driving tools like product recommendation suggestions, improved navigation and a loyalty programme. The reimagined Shopbop also plays into Amazon's longer-term strategy of conquering the fashion market. The online retail giant acquired Shopbop in 2006, allowing it to establish a presence within the luxury sector.
Kohl's teams up with Amazon to drive store traffic. The 1,000-square-foot in-store concept, called the Amazon Smart Home Experience, will launch next month in 10 Kohl's locations. Gadgets like Amazon's Echo voice-activated device and the Fire tablet will be available, in a bid to drive traffic as the department store industry struggles. The move saw Kohl's shares bump up by 3.1 percent to $41.63, after stock was down 18 percent this year.
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The City punished struggling department stores chain Debenhams on Tuesday after it warned on profits for the third time in six months.
The retailer, which is in the middle of a three-year turnaround, said it continued to go through “turbulent times”.
It is struggling with increased discounting from rivals, such as troubled House of Fraser’s recent 60% price cuts, a slump in its clothing and make-up sales and a squeeze on consumers.
Annual pre-tax profits will be between £35 million and £40 million, below the £50.3 million it had expected. The shares plunged 13.4%, or 2.63p, to 16.97p.
Despite this, chief executive Sergio Bucher, who joined Debenhams in 2016 to revive its fortunes, insisted the business was “well equipped to navigate the market turbulence”.
The retailer is looking to offload its Danish business, Magasin du Nord, which has six stores and made underlying profits of £27 million last year, to strengthen its balance sheet. It also has a small in-house printing business, Magenta Print, it could sell.
“A retailer shouldn’t have a printing business in their group,” said finance chief Matt Smith. He also said Debenhams will spend less money next year on some parts of the business such as back-of-house technology.
This year it put aside £140 million for improvements, while next year it will spend between £75 million to £90 million.
“We would expect management not pay a final dividend as a result,” said Investec’s Kate Calvert.
Debenhams said same-store sales fell by 1.7% for the 15 weeks to June 16. Online sales, however, grew 16%.
The company, which has been targeted by short-sellers including hedge fund manager Crispin Odey, has earmarked 10 stores for closure over the next five years. It joins a string of retailers on the High Street, including Marks & Spencer, rival House of Fraser and struggling New Look, in shutting stores.
Bucher, who joined from Amazon in October 2016, is pinning his hopes on beauty products and a slimmed, better-curated fashion offer. It plans to make cost savings of £20 million. “We don’t see conditions [on the High Street] changing in the near future and we are making very careful choices about how we deploy our capital,” he added.
It warned on profits in April, blaming the Beast from the East, and in January, after poor Christmas sales.
Mike Ashley ‘backs us’
The retailer’s boss Sergio Bucher on Tuesday insisted Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct, which has built a near-30% stake in Debenhams, was “supportive” of his turnaround strategy and they have regular conversations.
Sports Direct also owns 11% of House of Fraser, which is closing more than half its stores to stay afloat, fuelling rumours that Ashley (pictured) wants to combine the ailing businesses.
Sports Direct’s significant stake also brings it closer to the threshold at which a formal takeover bid could kick off.


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Many of the trademark orange roofs atop Howard Johnson restaurants will be replaced over the next two years by the chubby ''Big Boy'' in checkerboard pants -- the dining symbol of Marriott Corp.
A conversion of some HoJos to Big Boys is part of Marriott's long-term plan to whip Denny's, which now has 1,163 units in the United States, and become the nation's No. 1 chain of coffeehouses, said John Rohs, vice president of research at Wertheim & Co., a New York brokerage.
Marriott started the campaign in November when it bought the assets of Howard Johnson Co., the 60-year-old hotel and restaurant company, from London- based Imperial Group for $300 million.
Marriott then quickly sold most of the hotels that it had just bought to Prime Motor Inns Inc. of Fairfield, N.J., for $235 million.
Included in the sale to Prime were 125 company-owned Howard Johnson motor lodges and hotels, along with franchises to 375 motor lodges and 199 restaurants.
Of the 350 restaurants that Marriott acquired, it will keep 200 -- at least for a time -- and sell about 150.
In Orlando, Marriott's moves were most visible at the HoJo restaurant at 2030 W. Colonial Drive, which was sold to an Orlando investor for an undisclosed amount. The restaurant has undergone an extensive menu change and has reopened as Aunt Polly's Pantry.
In another change in Orlando, the 270-room Howard Johnson's Executive Center hotel at 304 W. Colonial Drive has been bought by Westpark Hotels.
John Clohan, director of operations for Virginia-based Westpark, said the hotel and restaurant probably would operate under the HoJo name until a $2 million to $3 million room renovation is completed in about nine months. When that remodeling is finished, he said, the hotel's restaurant will be renovated.
Other HoJo restaurants in Central Florida may be sold within the next two years. Analyst Rohs said that Marriott is evaluating the HoJo restaurants across the country that it still owns. ''Of the 200 restaurants, Marriott will probably sell two-thirds of those to franchisees and keep the rest,'' he said. Marriott's plan is to convert the restaurants at the best locations to Big Boys, he said.
After Marriott converts the HoJo restaurants to Big Boys, it could have about 1,122 restaurants in the chain. Denny's now has 1,163 restaurants.
The purchase of the HoJo restaurants will speed Marriott toward its goal of becoming No. 1, Rohs said, because it is less expensive to convert restaurants than to build new ones.
Rohs lauded Marriott's ability to get higher earnings from each restaurant than its competitors.
HoJo restaurants average $750,000 to $850,000 each in annual sales, he said, while Marriott's Big Boy restaurants take in about $1.1 million each.
The conversion of HoJo restaurants to Marriott's Big Boys is moving slowly, though. Only one restaurant, in Fredericksburg, Va., has undergone the change, said Nancy Fisher, director of public relations for Marriott's Big Boy Restaurant System.
Fisher said the process of converting the HoJo restaurants to Big Boys could take two to three years.
Central Floridians now know Big Boy restaurants as Frisch's Big Boy. Frisch's Restaurants Inc. of Cincinnati holds the franchise for 10 Big Boy restaurants in Florida and has about half a dozen units in the Orlando area, a company spokeswoman said.
Prime Motors Inns, of which Howard Johnson Co. is now a subsidiary, plans to keep using the HoJo name on the hotels that it owns. Eric Pfeffer, southern regional vice president for Prime, said the company also will keep operating the three HoJo restaurants that are a part of its full-service HoJo hotels.
Restaurants at two other company-owned HoJo hotels, at Kirkman Road and Sand Lake Road in Orlando, were managed by Marriott before the sale, Pfeffer said. Prime has not decided whether that arrangement will continue, he said.


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Study: New Technology Does Not Make You Anti-Social
Those who are worried that their kids, loved ones and significant others will become anti-social due to Internet overdose can now rest easy. The latest Pew Internet Study on Social Isolation and Technology shows that contrary to popular belief social networking and online activities does not really affect one’s sociability.
The study explored one major aspect of social isolation – the role that the Internet and mobile phone play in one’s core social networks. The study categorically states that Americans’ use of mobile phones and the Internet actually leads to a larger and more diverse discussion networks. This include Americans’ use of Facebook.Other significant findings of the Pew Internet Study on Social Isolation and Technology include the following:
- the use of the internet and mobile phones lead to larger and more diverse core discussion networks,
- social media activities whether online or on a mobile phone contributes to diverse discussions among people of different background,
- Facebook and other social network activities do not lessen people’s social engagement,
- Internet activities does not affect one’s participation in local activities,
- Internet use does not make people stay away from pubic places
- mobile phone use does not affect people’s face-to-face interactions with other people
To sum up the results of the study, Pew Internet has proven that internet technologies are not only use for distant communication but equally for local contact as well.
So, you can stop worrying about your kids, husband and other family members’ internet and social networking activities now.
Arnold Zafra is a freelance blogger/writer from Manila. He believes that 2010 will be the year of the ebook readers so he created a new blog dedicated to the upcoming Asus Eee Reader. You can follow him on Twitter.
I can personally attest to the fact that being an internet addict does not make one an anti-social person!
I’ve been working closely with the internet for quite sometime now. while it is true that I seldom go out with friends for after-working hours drinks nowadays, I still know what goes on with their lives, likewise they know that I am still here for them when the need be. thanks to social networking options we have right now!
in fact, I made several, new friends over the internet so I don’t believe it affects one’s social life or how we interact with other people.
great post, by the way! :)


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Unlike a generation ago, it's not always easy at first glance to tell Americans who are struggling financially from those who are thriving.
Consumer goods that in 2006 were within reach of only middle-class and wealthy Americans are now cheap enough for lower-income families to afford. Computers, flat-screen TVs and other devices and appliances have plummeted in price over the last decade, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
At the same time, services that are increasingly essential to securing a middle- or upper-class foothold, such as a college education, have surged at a much faster pace than inflation.
The result is an American society where the poor may not look impoverished, given an abundance of cheaper consumer goods. Yet many have little hope of achieving economic mobility in the face of sharply higher costs for education and health care.
"It seems like a cruel irony at best that most of the stuff that isn't dropping in price is the important stuff," said Josh Bivens, research and policy director of the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning economic think tank. "In this overall discussion, you do worry that people will put too much moral freight that if someone has a flat screen TV, that they can't be really poor."
On the other hand, Bivens noted that lower costs for things like refrigerators and TVs free up more cash for households to spend on other parts of their budgets. The sharp decrease in the price of consumer goods is "one of the few good news stories of our economy," he added.
Yet even with drastically lower prices for some household goods, many Americans face headwinds. Median household income may have jumped 5.2 percent last year, but it's still below the 1999 peak for many.
Younger workers are at risk of a lower standard of living than their parents, the consulting firm McKinsey said in a report earlier this year. It estimated that as many as 70 percent of households in 25 developed countries had seen flat or falling wages during the past decade, compared with fewer than 2 percent of households between 1993 to 2005.
Read on to learn more about how basic costs have changed since 2006 relative to an 18 percent increase in the Consumer Price Index.


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Australian Rates On the Rise
Australia’s benchmark interest rate is being raised to the highest it has been in four years.
The Reserve Bank of Australia raised interest rates 0.25% to 5.5%, the first time they have gone up in over a year.
According to a BBC article,
“The figures, representing a decline from the 0.2% growth in GDP seen between July and September, were below market expectations.
Consumer spending remains strong, however, and the Bank is concerned about growing inflationary pressures.”
“Over recent months it has become increasingly clear that remaining spare capacity in the labour and goods markets is becoming rather limited,” said Reserve Bank governor Ian Macfarlane.
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Facebook and Instagram will soon begin offering marketers the ability to target paid advertisements to users who post about the holidays and use certain key phrases such as Black Friday or Cyber Monday, according to at least one report.
The social site is laying the foundations to become a major Black Friday retail player. This year, it added shopping sections to company Facebook pages and began testing a new ecommerce marketplace.
Although social can increase the ROI of email marketing, it’s important to note that the average Facebook post only reaches 2% of its intended audience. This is a stark contrast from the 79% average global email deliverability rate.
Beginning on Thanksgiving, email marketers might want to leverage Facebook’s new lead ads, since the integration of social media and email can significantly increase ROI and boost holiday sales.
Email marketing generates $38 for every $1 spent, per Campaign Monitor. An additional $12.41 per email can be generated when emails are shared via social media, according to ReachMail. This 33% increase in ROI may stem from the fact that shoppers are four times more likely to spend money on a purchase when using social media, according to a recent Deloitte study.
“It’s so important for marketers to take a holistic approach to the customer journey, and not think in terms of individual marketing channels,” says Guy Marion, CMO of Autopilot. “We continue to see consumers embrace more personalized marketing, and it looks like Facebook and Instagram have recognized the importance of this tailored, coordinated approach across channels.”
Lack of knowledge, at 58%, and time, at 42%, are the biggest hurdles for email marketers looking to integrate social media into their campaigns, according to a 2014 SocialTimes and Constant Contact report.
The case for increased integration is a strong one,” states Luke Brynley Jones, CEO of Our Social Times and the author of the report. “Social media creates awareness, deepens relationships, and builds trust whilst email converts prospects into buyers and increases customer retention.”
Most email marketing companies now provide social-sharing buttons in email templates, which can increase email clicks by 158% per GetResponse.
Some email service providers, including StreamSend and Constant Contact’s Easy Share, also offer marketers the ability to automatically create a social advertisement from the contents of an email marketing message.
It’s no wonder that marketers are most satisfied with the business value that email marketing brings to their business and are the least satisfied with the value that buying paid ads on Facebook brings to their business, according to Forrester.


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An empty unit in Canterbury recently vacated by a food chain is already set to be replaced by a new café - with a number of jobs up for grabs.
Eat, which was based in Whitefriars, shut down in December after the company was bought by Pret a Manger.
But now hoardings have already gone up advertising new tenant the Real Eating Company, which runs "a small independent chain of café kitchens".
The firm has branches in Bournemouth and Chichester but this will be its first in Kent.
The company was created by Helena Hudson in January 2004. She moved to Brighton from London in 2001 with her family and set up her business in the south east.
All its sandwiches, toasties and salads are "made fresh, from scratch, on-site".
Breakfast will be served all day - with a Full English costing £8.75 - and vegan hot drinks will be available.
The Real Eating Company is set to open in February this year.
Managing director Helena Hudson said: "We’re a strong, independent café business with an emphasis on using local produce and we’re big supporters of the High Street.
"We believe that Canterbury will be a good home for us, complimenting the other cities across the south where we currently operate.
"We’re on the lookout for great local food and drink producers in and around Canterbury. Get in touch if you think we should know about you."
The Real Eating Company said it is also expecting to recruit some of the former members of the Eat team - preserving their jobs.
New recruits are being sought to work in the Canterbury branch. To apply, email firstname.lastname@example.org.